Bringing the Classroom to Life!

Bringing the Classroom to Life! | Jonathan Dawson

“It’s a wonderful time to be active in the field of Higher Education”, Jonathan tells us, “you can actually smell the revolution that is brewing”. He shows us how the movement of student protest, sit-ins and the like are an exciting call for positive change in not only what we teach, but also in how we teach it.

Rather than by teaching students to stand separate from their subject with their intellect in problem-solving mode, we can introduce them to a source of intelligence and power which naturally arises through empathic identification with their subject. This is achieved through a whole-person approach, direct experience of topics and how language can limit, and ‘helping students weave themselves into the weft of life’.

Head of Economics at Schumacher College in Devon, UK, Jonathan has around 20 years’ experience as a researcher, author, consultant and project manager in the field of small enterprise development in Africa and South Asia. Jonathan is the principal author of the Gaia Education sustainable economy curriculum, endorsed by UNITAR and adopted by UNESCO as a valuable contribution to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. He teaches this curriculum at universities internationally and online.

Jonathan’s talk was part of a TEDxFindhorn held in the Universal Hall
in Findhorn, Scotland. To view the full series visit